Corban College students and baseball players Josh Warner (left) and Mitch Riddle work on painting the Habitat for Humanity house at East Santiam and Third Avenue in Stayton.
STAYTON, Ore. – Rather than heading home to spend time with family and friends over Spring Break, Corban's baseball team turned in their bats and gloves for hammers and paint brushes in their work with Habitat for Humanity in Stayton.
The ballplayers continued the service that Stayton High School students already started, for a "Community Pride Day" in February.
Community participation coordinator Angie Lehnert had contacted teachers Katie Agee and Sean Potter to see if students would be interested in taking part in service projects around the city.
The young men from Corban College split into two teams and worked last Monday and Wednesday at various projects around town. One group helped out at Stayton's Habitat for Humanity house at East Santiam and Third Avenue. The other group helped paint a wall along North Gardner Avenue in the Westtown neighborhood.
Neighbor Barbara Shore said the area by the wall has been an ongoing headache for the neighborhood. Graffiti used to be on the wall and she didn't think it was safe for children to walk to school.
"It makes the whole neighborhood look better," Shore said. "It creates a sense of pride."
Lori Schilling, director of church and community relations at Corban College, said the college has a program that requires students to contribute 50 hours each of community and church service.
The Salem college chose Stayton after Schilling met with Santiam Canyon Habitat for Humanity community resource coordinator Doug Doornink and Corban College alumnus Randy Cranston of Sublimity last fall. They talked about forming a partnership.
"The baseball team had scheduled home games during spring break, so we tried to schedule their volunteer work around their spring games," Schilling said.
The team also volunteered at two Habitat for Humanity sites in Salem and Keizer.
Freshman pitcher Jacob Kopra, from Gresham, helped paint the Westtown neighborhood wall last Wednesday.
"I wasn't looking forward to (community service) a lot but I've had a lot of people come up to us and tell us 'thank you' because it was so bad for so long," Kopra said. "It's cool to help people out and serve with the team. Corban is a Christian college and it's cool to show God's love and have people notice it."
Senior parks manager Bob Parsons and other public works employees also donated time and equipment to the service projects.